An information centric network (ICN) is a network architecture directed to information delivery. ICNs may also be known as content-aware, content-centric, or data specific networks. ICNs relate to information-object-to-object models, which utilize a non-location based addressing scheme that is content-based. The entities that are distributed or operated on in an ICN communication model are information objects. Some examples of information objects may include content, data streams, services, user entities, and/or devices. An ICN supports flows initiated by a request for content from a consumer of the content, where the consumer may be inside the network or in a different network domain. The network receives the request and the content flows back through the network. Content is uniquely associated with its name, which is used to address the information objects, decoupling the information objects from locations. A content size can be associated with the content's name.
In such networks, nodes participating in the network hold some content and other nodes can retrieve the content either from a server or from nodes that are nearby. A node is instrumentality that operates to store, request, and transmit information, where the instrumentality can include a device having applications to manage the operation of the respective device. For example, nodes retrieving content from a server may use a link such as LTE (long-term evolution) wireless uplink or some other wireless technology to connect to the Internet. Nodes retrieving content from nodes that are nearby may use some proximity technology to connect to these nodes and other nodes in the vicinity. A key issue for an ICN includes the determination of what content to cache at each node of a local network for efficient distribution of and access to the content.